If you are ripping your entire DVD to File, then you need pyTivo to set up a virtual file system in order to be able to transfer any or all titles from the DVD. To do this, you need to rip each DVD to a separate directory containing at a minimum a VIDEO_TS directory which holds all the .IFO and .VOB files. In addition, each DVD's directory can optionally contain:

folder.jpg - cover art for the entire folder
default.txt - metadata for the folder
__Txx.mpg.txt - metadata for each title, where xx is the title number
__Txx.mpg.jpg - cover art for each title

Note the first two can be contained in any directory of the DVD share. In order to share these DVDs, however, you will need a section in pyTivo's pyTivo.conf file like the following:

__T02.mpg.jpg is the cover art for The Ghost Goes West, __T02.mpg.txt is its metafile, __T03.mpg.jpg is the cover art for The 39 Steps, and of course __T03.mpg.txt is its metadata.

Also, I have four different Harry Potter films still on DVD, so I collect them under a single directory, but I want cover art and metadata for the folder, so in the "/RAID/DVD/Harry Potter" directory I have:

Now this is not the only way to skin this cat. You can rip the DVD to IFO or to ISO and wind up getting the video to the TiVo, but if you have multi-title DVDs, DVDs with extra features you like, or DVDs with alternate audio tracks you want to manage, then the PyTivo DVD plug-in is the quickest and easiest way to publish the DVD. Jbernardis, the author of vidmgr, prefers to rip to h.24 files for several reasons, as do others, so there is no "right" or "wrong" method, but I definitely prefer the DVD-plug-in.

I would like to present an idea I have been mulling over for video manager. See what others think, especially Jbernardis since it is HIS program

A the moment, vidmgr presents a directory of movies in the same hiearchy as the file system on the server. In my case:

Movies
-Genre
--Title

Since vidmger has available to it the year, title, genre, major actors, it would be really cool if the films could be sorted by these items rather than in just filepath order. You could use the same button tivo does in the myshows list to toggle between them. If so the files could better be managed in a flat file path.

Now I realize this would require vidmgr to build a db in the background of all the pertinant data, but the data is there and it does not have to be done before the first normal directory is displayed, only available after the db is built and cached. Harmonium works much this way now for music. I would not see this being done for tv shows but only for movies, but others may have ideas on how to do this as well.

I looked at lrhorer's method of using symlinks but its just too much on going work to maintain and asking for some sort of automation under windows....well, beyond the scope of most current software. I thought an extension of vidmgr that does this would eliminate the need for most of that and make finding a film much easier.

Heck the db could be built ahead of time by the user and stored as a spreadsheet or other common and easily editable file type.

Can Galleon have pytivo PUSH an mp4? Has it been updated to HD menus? I admit to never having actually tried Galleon but I like the menus and graphics we have in vidmgr now, just was hoping for a bit more functionality.

No, Galleon doesn't interact with pyTivo at all. I was just pointing out another example of an app that can parse metadata (MP3 tags in this case) and present different sorting/filtering options to the user.

Galleon does have a GoBack feature for video files, which I used sparingly back in the old days before pyTivo, streambaby, and vidmgr.

and asking for some sort of automation under windows....well, beyond the scope of most current software. I thought an extension of vidmgr that does this would eliminate the need for most of that and make finding a film much easier.

Click to expand...

That's definitely a non-trivial request.

Isn't your Synology NAS Linux based? Why not just modify the scripts I use for use on the Synology system? They will automatically create and delete shares sorted by date, genre, alpha groups, etc.

That would be beyond my current linux capabilities or desire to learn. I no longer run pytivo or vidmgr on the synology box either. I had those two running fine and then started working toward java and harmonium and really mucked up the works. I failed the primary purpose of the NAS...the RAID. I got all the data back and reflashed the NAS back to an updated stock configuration and went back to running all the interface software under windows since the small interface server that used to function as file server was not going away. It does downloads, pytivo, harmonium and system backups.

Anyway, I am back to running all this under windows. The files are all on the NAS. If you think you can give me the scripts and a bit of direction, I'll give them a go under windows. What language are they in?

I did realize my suggested addition to vidmgr was not trivial. Just thought that managing the vids and presenting them in various sort orders was a logical next step if Jbernardis is interested.

I would like to present an idea I have been mulling over for video manager. See what others think, especially Jbernardis since it is HIS program

Click to expand...

It's a great idea, but unfortunately I don't have the bandwidth to tackle that right now. Maybe for vidmgr 2.0

Of course the downside of a flat file system and relying on metadata is that the PyTivo NPL representation would lose its structure. I'm like you - I have my films all divided into directories by genre, but I also still use the PyTivo pull interface too and I like to see them consistent with one another.

I no longer use the pytivo pull interface at all since all my video is stored as mp4 and would have to be transcoded to transfer.

My biggest problem with filing by genre is that so many movies belong in more than one category and when I go looking for one....I always am looking in the wrong one. Perhaps using a browse interface for searching is the wrong approach.

Have you seen any easy way to gather the movie meta data into a single file? Getting all of it to a simple spreadsheet would at least allow me an index to keep handy. Suppose I could relearn visual basic and do it in excel.

Anyway, I am back to running all this under windows. The files are all on the NAS. If you think you can give me the scripts and a bit of direction, I'll give them a go under windows. What language are they in?

Click to expand...

Bash. I know there are at least a couple of bash interpreters for Windows out there. I have no idea how well they work or whether they support any of the newer bash forms. A better solution might be Take Command.

If you are going to relegate the function to a PC, rather than the TiVo, then what I would do is write CGI scripts that relegate the functions to a web page. You can use Perl, PHP, or whatever to write the script, and arrange the database any way you like. Indeed, you could create the data base using whatever database manager you like. I'm doing that very thing here.

You will have to either run a web server on one of your machines, or else purchase a web page from one of the myriad web hosting services.

Have you seen any easy way to gather the movie meta data into a single file? Getting all of it to a simple spreadsheet would at least allow me an index to keep handy. Suppose I could relearn visual basic and do it in excel.

Click to expand...

Collecting the relevant data into a single file is not difficult. 'Simply parse the metafiles and extract the fields into a database file. A tab-delimited file would work, or perhaps semicolon. Extracting a page for display filtering by genre is also not difficult.

By example, From Russia With Love belongs in each of the following Genre

Classics
Action Adventure
Thrillers

In my case its located in the Action & Adventure directory but I would just as likely go looking for it in the Thrillers or Classics sections. Symlinks could help with this but I still am not sure I can make this work effectively under windows. The basic problem being that windows does not keep track of the links. When the base file is moved, renamed or deleted, the symlinks do not get updated and now point to the wrong place.

If you are going to relegate the function to a PC, rather than the TiVo, then what I would do is write CGI scripts that relegate the functions to a web page. You can use Perl, PHP, or whatever to write the script, and arrange the database any way you like. Indeed, you could create the data base using whatever database manager you like. I'm doing that very thing here.

You will have to either run a web server on one of your machines, or else purchase a web page from one of the myriad web hosting services.

Collecting the relevant data into a single file is not difficult. 'Simply parse the metafiles and extract the fields into a database file. A tab-delimited file would work, or perhaps semicolon. Extracting a page for display filtering by genre is also not difficult.

Click to expand...

I would like the info presented to the user on the tivo, not on a pc. Away from the tivo, a simple spreadsheet database is sufficient. dlfl provided a simple utility to do just that: